The effect of emphasis upon the arrangement of attributive modifiers of nouns
Mary E. McKinney · KU ScholarWorks (The University of Kansas) · 1921
P.he Effect of Emp•hasfs upon the .Arrangement of t•heAttributi~e Modifiers of Nouns.• My problem Ls to find out whet-her emp•hasi"s •has anything to do wn1t•h determining t•he position 1in the sentence, of the attributive modifiers of nouns.To my mind,• whenever a parti~ular word or phrase in a sentence attracts t-he attention of the reader-, that word or phrase is emphatic:, •:in the broad sense: of the word.The, prominence of such words or phrases may be due to t'he ~idea of contrast, or for rhetorical pllrposes.Emphasis depends upon the.•thought of the• w~iterr or speaker,, and cannot be, evaluated• in isola;ted.sentences.'fhe' meaning and sentence~ relation must be carefully studi_ed • .In r~ading aloud or'lin talking we D!iYt~!1! stress the words which we wish t~ make prominent•in•the•mind of •the listener, •in order• to •convey• to• him our• thought.•.In printed• ma•t te r •our •judgment• as• to• which• words• are•• empha t.ic•, •is• colored 'by our ••interpretat iol).of.the.• ma•te 1 rial.read' .and. by.what •we• conside•r •the•• point •of •-view of• the" ant ho r. •He nee .•the.• choosling •of• emphatic• words• doubtless• varies• w.i th.•the• c.hoosers, •but-, •guided• by• these• principles, •:in •read_ing•a quantity•of•mate•rial, •it•1is quite.•probable • tha,t • dif'fe•re•nt •readers• would• make-• the•• same• genera.l•judgments.•Words•t-hat•are•contrasted•or•directly~compared •with• each other• are•• emphatic.• 'fhis •class of• empha t:ic • mod:ifiers •has' been• co.nsid ered • seiparately, •because,• we •do•not•;bh-ink•that emphasis•has-.anything•todo with • dete•rmining • the•ir • pos1tion.• • 'rheir posit.ion• is • dete.rmi•ned•by• the: principle• of •t_he.: new• topic order, .. Wh\ich puts "a• ne.w •id.ea' before,• the• read er• '•s.•mind, •at •once.• S•uch •modifiers ••are• empha t:ic •because•• t'hey •are.•contrasted; •they• most• markedly_• prec~de •their• noun, '•!!2:t •because.•they• are• emphat:ic, •but•.because: they• are •contrasted:,•.and• introduce•• a• new -.idea .• . .•~he• non-contrasting• modifiers• include.-.ad.j ecti ves •in• the,• super1at:i ve degree,• tho.se • heighte.ne~•by• an ••adverb•,• and •.inod 0 ifiers •used ••in •ironical,• exaggerated •or other•• rhetorical •expressions~,• as• well• as• any• ord~in ary.modifiers •made prominent.by •the.though•t.•.In all •exam-ples --here.;.:in •cited,• an• effort• has • bee-n •made•• to include,• enough of -the •te•xt •to• make, •the•emphasis•seem•evident; •but•they•must•be~judged •in• the• light• of' •the •context,,• and .. not• as.• indiv:idual phrases or•sentences.•we shall•attempt•to•show•the facts•that•~nswer •the guest:ion: •What• is• the,': re la ti on• between• the• • emphat1ic •modifier~ of• nouns• and• the, non•empha.t:ic• mod,ifiers•, ••as• far• as •thetr position• in• the -sentence.-•ts•concerned?Starting Point of Problem.In 1916 Miss Merryman •made.a study of' t•he position of •~ll the attrib:ut.ive.•modifie•rs of nouns~, •in •the seven books of •Caesar''s • ~~lliQ -~~!:.and ..in se,ven speec•hes of C.ice•ro•.;.•..---the f'our against• Catiline;, the•• Mariilian •Law:, fhe• Archias, •'and the Marcellus.•A general tabulation of he•r count was included in a pape•r on 62m~ •E~Q.l§ •Qf ~~tin• ~Qr,q..;.Qr.d~t, written by •Dr.Ar:T.Walker,. of the University of Kansas•, read at the: fourteenth annual •meeting of the• Classical Association of .the.-Midd.leWest and Soutrr, and p.ublished in the •QJ,& § §lQ~!-~QYtn~l,' June 1918.Miss Merryman~•s -resrnlts show that four out of f.ive adjectives in Caesar.precede their noun, and three out of four •lin Cicero stand in th&s same order.H.-1. Ullman ( 1') •, University of• Pitts burg, •now -University of Iowa, raise•s •the ob.j ect ion• that •no -classification was made of' •the• emphatic and •the umemphatic adjectives.•.In his opinion empha~is in a phrase• or sentence• require.priortty of' position.•This pr.inciple •therefore' would account for ••t:he precedence of• the •emphatic adjectives.•To guote• him: •;•'The, statement ••that ••the.adjective precede-s tts •noun, though ••true in a• majority of •cases, .is•mis leading•, because 1 .itgtves•the impression that anothe•r special principle of' word-orde•r .. ( other than "the, usual one that emphasis in ~ phrase or• se•ntence, requires pr.ior.ity of position) comes into play .insuo•h •oases~" •Mr.•Ullman make-s no attempt to prove• this dogma; •he •takes it for granted.•The•~ §Q~lld!ni: order of emphaais (2) and ••t-he .oh.iast.ioorde 1 r certainly• cannot admit that "emphasis.in a phrase or sentence •r~HI!!i!: §)_prio.t.ity i ~ C 1 as si o a 1 Jo u r n a 1 , A p r i 1 1 9 1 9 • 2,, See "Emphas.is in Latin Prose ", •sc•hc>ol Review, •vol.15, page 643 by •John Greene .